I read with great interest the Oct. 31 story “Medicaid: System in Chaos.” Unfortunately, it ran off course.
It started out as the first in a series addressing health care reform with the high costs associated with Medicaid as a slant, which is all well and good.
But I suppose in order to fill an entire page with words, and lacking any other substance on the original premise, it turned into an outright bashing of Dr. Frank Pirruccello, portraying him as an assembly-line physician who doesn’t intimately delve into each of the approximately 50 impoverished patients he sees daily. Reality check: Marcus Welby, M.D., was a television show-fantasy. Get it?
Unless the Tribune reporters can walk in Dr. Pirruccello’s shoes or at least be faintly familiar with the perilous, dead-end conditions under which he works on a daily basis, then you cannot possibly convey the doctor side of this story with any objectivity.
For instance, I did not read where Dr. Pirruccello drove a woman from that area to a hospital several miles away, only to have his car smashed by the neighbors when he brought her inside. Or that he drives three hours daily, putting his life on the line, to help those who can rarely find help elsewhere.
This is a caring, highly competent physician with impeccable credentials, for whom you painted a patently sorry picture. Next time the Tribune needs to fill space, sell more ads; they are more objective.
